Machine for making button-fasteners



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1 ZELLERS. v H MAUHINHFOR MAKING BUTTON FASTENERS. No. 28 L158. V Patented Aug. 28,1883

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M. ZELLERS.

' MACHINE FOR MAKINGBUT-ION FASTENERS. N0. 284,158. Patented Aug. 28, 1883.

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M. M. ZELLERS MACHINE FOR MAKING BUTTON FASTENERS.

Patented Aug. 28, 188?;

INVBNTOR m AT if UNITEDSTATESPATENT OFFICE.

MAHLON M. znntnns, on KENT, oHio.

MACHINE FOR MAKING BUTTON-FASTENERS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 284,158, dated August 28, 1883.

Application filed se temter 21, 1882. (N0 model.)

I To all whom itjnayborwern: I

,Be itknown that I, MAHLON M. ZELLERS,

of Kent, in the county of Portage and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and use- .ful Improvements in Machines for Making Button-Fasteners and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description; of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to i make and use the same.

a My invention relates to a machine for male ing button-fasteners; and it consists in the parts and combination of parts as will be here inafter fully set forth and claimed,

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an isometric are enlarged views, in section, of some of the parts of my machine, showing more clearly theirconstruction and operation. Fig. 9 is a a view or the button-fastener as formed by my machine.

Referring first a Fi 9, the letter T indicates a button-fastener such as my machine is designed to produce; and it consistsof a loose convolute coil or spiral, t, of wire,'having; its inner end portion projectingaxially or at right angles to its'plane, and bent :to form aloop, t, which isintended to engage the eye of. a button.

a hole is formed in the material to which it is to be attached, and the loop being held between the finger and thumb, the outer end of the spiral isinserted through the hole, and the fastening is then turned to force said spiral through the material coil by coil until the inner endi f of the loop comes into the hole.

' The fasten- ,ing may be removed by turning itin, an op-.

i posite directionfrom that required to insert it. Sucha fastener possesses "an advantage that it is readily attachedv and removed, and

no tool or machine is required in setting or securing it in place.

. A is the bed of my m ca... 1

B is a shaft, which is j ournaled in suitable bearings extending upward from one end of 1 the bed A.

In using such a fastener a small crank-wheel 0, being connected thereto by means of the wrist or pin a.

E is a slide, which is connected to and reciprocated by the pitman D. This slide E is provided with a lug, b, which extends upward from said slide. i

E is anotherslide, which is provided on its upper face with a rack, 0. One end of this slide E is provided with i an extension or spindle, E, which passes through a hole in the lug b.

F is a slotted plate, which is secured to the slide E and reciprocates with said slide. The slot 01 of the plate F is set at an angle to the direction in which the slide moves or recipfo cates.

a G is a frame or guide of the feeding device of my machine, and is provided at one end with a guide, 6, through which the wire passes.

G G are a series of straighteningrolls, which follow after the guide 0, and through which the wire also passes and is straightened.

H is a slide, which moves in the frame or guide G. This slide H is provided with a grasping, device, the upper jawof which is rigidly securedto the slide H, and the lower jaw, g, is pivotally attached to the slide. The free end of the lower jaw, g, is providedwith aa arm, 9, which isset at a right angle to said jaw, and its lower end being adapted to en gage with the slot din the plate F. a The slot (Z in the plate F acts as said plate is reciprocated to reciprocate the slide H through the arm 9 of the jaw g, and it will also be noticed that as the slot is acting to move the slide H toward the machine it will also act to close the jaw 9 against the jaw f, and thus clamp the wire which passes between said jaws, as

shown in Fig. 3, and when the plate Fis moved in the opposite direction the slot d will act to a open the lower jaw, g, away from the upper jaw, f, and thus release its. hold on the wire,

thus allowing the jaws to move back from the machine without carrying the wireback. The

lower jaw, g, is prevented from opening too far i by providing it at its pivoted end with ahookshaped projection, h, which engages with a pin, Iz (SeeFig. 3 The slide H is also providedwith two guides,.H and H one at either ,end of. the said slide, the guide H, acting to guide the wire to the grasping device, and the other guide, H acting to guide the wire away from the grasping device. (See Fig. 3.) These guides H and H are secured in lugs which extend out from the face of the slide H, as shown.

I is a guide-holder, which is pivoted atone end to the frame G. (See Fig. 3.) The free end of the guide-holder I is guided between the uprights I I, (see Fig. 4,) and supported on the movable wedge-shaped piece I which passes through the uprights I I under the die-holder I, and at a right angle to it. (See Figs. 3 and 4.)

, J is a guide, which passes through the guide-holder I from one end to the other of said holder, and is made hollow to allow of the passage of the wire, as shown in Fig. 3.

I K is another hollow guide, having its passage directly opposite the passage in the guide J and its one end contiguous to one end of the guide J. (See Fig. 3.) The guide K is held rigidly in place by means of itsholders K K"; but the guide J, with its holder I, is adapted to be reciprocated vertically by means of the wedge-shaped piece 1 an adjustable spiral spring, 'i, acting to keep the guide-holder in contact with the wedge-shaped piece 1 (See Fig. 4.) The upward movement of the guide J acts to cut or separate the wire at the point where the guides J andKtou'ch. Thewedgeshaped piece Iis reciprocated by means of a rod, M, one end of said rod M being pivoted to the piece I at j, and the otherend being pivoted to the yoke M. The guide K extends from the guideholder K through the guideholder K Near the outer end of the guideK I remove its upper portion, and provide instead a hinged piece, L, which is held in position down against the lower surface of the guide K by means of a spring, L, as shown in Fig. 3. The object in providing the hinged .piece L will be hereinafter explained.

N is a cam-wheel, which i's secured to the shaft B (see Fig. 7') and adapted to engage with a friction-roller, is, secured to the yoke M. This cam-wheel N acts to drive the yoke M forward, and with it the shaft 0, which is 'adju'stably secured to the said yoke M by means of the connecting piece 0. (Shown more clearly in Fig. 6 at the right, which will be readily understood.)

1 isa spiral spring, one end of which is secured to the rear of the yoke M, and the other end is secured to a'bracket, m, which extends .out from the bed A. The function of this spring is to pull back the yoke M and shaft 0, and keep the roller in contact Withthe cam-wheel N. The forward end of the shaft 0 is provided with a recess, into which is inserted a spindle, 0 (See Fig. 6 at the left.) The spindle O is in turn provided'at its end with a punch, 12, which is removably secured in the end of the said spindle in any suitable manner, one well-known manner being shown in Fig. 6, (at the extreme left,) which consists of the split tapering end and conical means of a screw-thread.

R is a shaft, which is journaled in bearings extending up from the bed A, and provided at one end with the bevel-pinion R, which meshes with the bevel-gear R on the shaft S. This shaft S is driven or revolved in the direc tion of the arrow, Fig. 1, by means of the rack c on the slide E and the pinions S. (See Figs.

- 1 and 2.) Thus rotary motion is imparted in one direction to the shaft R by means of the crank-wheel O, pitman D, slides E and E,

rack c, pinion S, shaft S, bevel-gear R and bevel-pinion R. The reverse motion is imparted to the shaft R by means of a spring, T,

(see Figs. 1 and 2,) which is secured at one end'to the shaft R in such a manner as to being the shaft R too far, I provide a check, S, 1

which is secured to the shaft S, (see Fig. 8,) and engages with a pin, V, extending up from the bed A. The end of the shaft R which is nearest the feeding device is provided with a recess, into which fits a spindle, U. (See Fig. 5.) This spindle U is provided with a hollow head, U, into which fits and is secured a die, U. The face of the die U is slotted at p of suflicient width and depth to admit of the passage of the wire in the manner shown in Fig. 3.

r is a punch,which is located in the spindle U in the rear of the die U one end of said punch passing through a hole'formed in the said die U This punch is actuated by means of a spiral spring, and acts to force the fasten'er out when it is finished, as will be hereinafter fully explained.

s is a piece of spring metal, which extends upward from the bed A, and is provided with a hole-,throu'ghwhi'ch the punch n passes. The function of this spring will also be fully explained in the operation of the machine hereinafter. v

The operation of my machine is as follows: The end of a roll of wire is now passed through theholein the guide e, and from thence through guide H, clasping device f and g, guide H and guide J, until the end of the wire has reached the guide K. Now, rotary inotion' is imparted to the shaft 13 by any suitable means, which in turn, through the mechanism hereinbefore described, imparts motion to the different parts of the machine. I

I will 'start by describing the operation of the feeding and cutting-off mechanism of my machine. I

The pitman D acts with the crank-wheel G to impart a reciprocating motion to the slide the straightening-rolls G G, and through the E, and through said slideE a the plate F, which is secured to the slide E. Now, as this plate F is reciprocated, the direction of the slotd is such that it acts through the arm 9 tooperate the grasping-device f and g,,and also reciprocate theslide H, opening the jaws of the grasping device when the "slide H is moved toward the left, Fig. 3, and closing the jaws when the slide H is moved toward the right. This acts to feed the wire along toward the right or to the machine, eachstroke or movement to the right of the slide H acting to feed a certain length of. wire which is cut off by the upward movement of the guide J, the mechanism operating said guide J being so timed that it will raise the guide J and cut the wire off only while the slide H and grasping device f and g are moving back. or to the left, thus allowing the passage of the guide J to be opposite or on a level withthe passage of the guide K, so that at the next forward (to the right) movement of the slide H and 5 grasping device f and g the lengths of wire in a the guide K are moved along and fed to the die U a short distance of one end of the lengths of wire only being fed into'the slot p of the said die U t 1 The operation of the loop forming and twisting mechanism of my machine is as follows: As the end of the wire is fed into the slot p,

" the cam wheel H has acted to drive the spindle ,0 forward, and with it the punch n. i This punch n, as it is driven forward, forces the end of the wire into the die U and thus forms the loop t of the fastener. Now, as the punch In is driven forward it carries with it the spring I pieces. This punch n andspring-piece s are held in this position by means of the cam on the cam-wheel N (the shape of which is shown in Fig. 7) until the lug b has acted on the slide E, which, as hereinbefore shown, im-

. parts rotary motion to theshaftR and through 45, the fastener, the face of the spring-piece 8 acting as a guide to hold the wire from any lateral it to the die U. The motion 'of the shaft R and die U is in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, and acts to form the spiral t of movement. It will be noticed that the upper part of the guide Kisprovided with a pivoted piece, L. The function of this pivoted piece is to hold and feed the wire asit is being wound or formed into aspiral, the tension of the spring I! being sufficient to overcome the tension of the. wire and hold it down. The punch n is now withdrawn by means of the spring Z, the cam or projection on the cam-wheel N havingpassed over the roller k.

Now, as the punchn is pulled back or withdrawn, the tension -of the spring T on the punch a" in the die U causes the said punch r to force the finished fastener out of the slot 12, and thus the said die is ready for another operation.

What I claim is r 1. In a machine for forming button-fasteners,the combination, with the wire-grasp ing device, having an arm extending therefrom and means for supporting it, of the reciprocating slotted plate, and mechanism for imparting motion'to the plate at an angle to the line of the slot, the said arm and slot being adapted to engage each other, whereby motion is given to the grasping device at right angles to that of the plate, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for forming button-fasteners, the combination, with the slide E and the reciprocating plate attached thereto and actuated thereby, having a slot at an angle to its line of motion, of the wire-grasping deholder and cutting the wire, substantially as 9o set forth.

4. The combination, 'with the feeding de-' vice, of the die constructed and adaptedto coil the wire to form a spiral, means for actuating said die and the reciprocating punch to form a loop in the wire, substantially as set forth.

5. In a machine for forming button-fasteners, the combination, with the crank O and pitman D, of the slides E and E, the pinion S, the shaft S, the shaft It, and suitable gearing for imparting motion thereto, substantially as shown and described.

6. In a machine for forming button-fasteners, the combination, with the shaft R, having a pinion, R, the shaft S, having abeveled gear, R and a pinion, S, and. the rack-bar o, of the spring T, wound around the shaft R and secured to the bed-plate A, substantially asshown and described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of tWosubscribing witnesses.

Witnesses:

S. P. WoLcorT, J. B. MILLER.

MAI-ILON M. ZELLERS. 

